Light sources such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are an attractive alternative to incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs in illumination devices due to their higher efficiency, smaller form factor, longer lifetime, and enhanced mechanical robustness. However, the high cost of LED-based lighting systems has limited their widespread utilization, particularly in broad-area general lighting applications.
The high cost of LED-based lighting systems has several contributors. LED chips are typically encased in a package, and multiple packaged LEDs are used in each lighting system to achieve the desired light intensity. For general illumination, which utilizes white light, such white light may be generated in a number of ways. One approach is to utilize two or more LEDs operating at different wavelengths, where the different wavelengths combine to appear white to the human eye. For example, LEDs emitting in the red, green and blue wavelength ranges may be utilized together. Such an arrangement typically requires careful control of the operating currents of each LED, such that the resulting combination of wavelengths is stable over time and different operating conditions, for example temperature. The different LEDs may also be formed from different materials, for example, AlInGaP for red LEDs and AlInGaN for blue and green LEDs. These different materials may have different operating current requirements as well as different temperature dependencies of the light output power and wavelength. Furthermore, changes in light-output power with time may be different for each type of LED. Therefore, such systems typically utilize some form of active control of the current in each LED to maintain the light output power of each LED at the desired level. In some implementations, one or more sensors (for example to sense light intensity, light color, temperature or the like) may be used to provide feedback to the current-control system, while in some other implementations the current may be adjusted over time based on values in a look-up table. Such control systems add cost and complexity to lighting solutions, as well as creating additional potential failure points. A further disadvantage of multi-LED arrangements is that they typically require some form of light combiner, diffuser or mixing chamber, so that the eye observes white light rather than the discrete different colors of each of the different LEDs. Such light-mixing systems typically add cost and bulk to lighting systems and may reduce their efficiency.
White light may also be produced in LED-based systems for general illumination by means of light-conversion materials such as phosphors. LEDs generally emit in a relatively narrow wavelength range, for example on the order of about 20-100 nm. When broader spectra (for example “white” light) or colors different from that of the LED are desired, the LED may be combined with one or more light-conversion materials. An LED combined with one or more phosphors typically generates white light by combining the short-wavelength emission from the semiconductor LED with long-wavelength emission from the phosphor(s). This occurs because a portion of the LED light passes unconverted through the phosphor to combine with the phosphor-converted light. Phosphors are typically composed of phosphorescent particles such as Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ (cerium-activated yttrium-aluminum-garnet, or YAG:Ce) embedded in a transparent binder such as optical epoxy or silicone and applied as a layer. However, phosphor integration is often difficult, particularly in terms of uniformity and reproducibility of the resulting light.
In some phosphor implementations, the phosphor layer absorbs a portion of the incident short-wavelength radiant flux and re-emits long-wavelength radiant flux. In an exemplary YAG:Ce phosphor, a blue LED typically has a peak wavelength of 450 nm-460 nm, corresponding to the peak of the phosphor-excitation spectrum, while the phosphor emission has a broadband spectrum with a peak at approximately 560 nm. Combining the blue LED emission with the yellow phosphor emission yields visible white light with a specific chromaticity (color) that depends on the ratio of blue to yellow light.
The geometry of the phosphor relative to the LED generally has a very strong impact on the uniformity of the light characteristics. For example, the LED may emit from more than one surface, for example from the top and the sides of the LED, producing non-uniform color if the phosphor composition is not uniform over these LED surfaces. More complicated structures may be used to attempt to mitigate this problem, but these add cost and complexity and may be additional sources for reliability problems.
Furthermore, if the thickness of the phosphor layer, formed of a uniformly dispersed phosphor in a binder, is not uniform over the surface of the LED, relatively larger amounts of blue light will be present where the phosphor-infused binder layer is thinner and relatively smaller amounts of blue light will be present where the phosphor-infused binder is thicker. In view of the foregoing, a need exists for structures, systems and procedures enabling the uniform and low-cost integration of phosphors with illumination devices such as LEDs.